By OJHL.ca
The Collingwood Blues will face the Trenton Golden Hawks in a repeat of the 2023 final.
The best-of-seven series will open in Collingwood Friday night. The league’s annual awards will be presented during a pregame ceremony Friday.
The complete schedule follows:
April 19, Trenton at Collingwood, 7 p.m.
April 20, Trenton at Collingwood, 6 p.m.
April 22, Collingwood at Trenton, 7:30 p.m.
April 24, Collingwood at Trenton, 7:30 p.m.
*April 26, Trenton at Collingwood, 7 p.m.
*April 29, Collingwood at Trenton, 7:30 p.m.
*May 1, Trenton at Collingwood, 7 p.m.
*if necessary
The winner of the series will hoist the Buckland Cup and earn a berth in the Centennial Cup national championships in Oakville May 9-19.
Big crowds are expected in both centres. The Blues have averaged 1,086 fans at home games during the postseason compared to 968 in Trenton.
Collingwood won the 2023 final over Trenton in five games.
The Blues won the OJHL regular season championship this year, which gave them home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Blues swept the expansion Leamington Flyers in the West Conference final, taking the series with a 4-2 victory in Leamington Thursday. They swept the Brantford 99ers in four games in the first round and needed five games to get by the Milton Menace in one West semifinal.
The Golden Hawks won the East final in six games over the Cobourg Cougars. They were presented the conference championship banner in Cobourg after a 3-1 win over the hometown Cougars Sunday.
Trenton swept the Stouffville Spirit and Toronto Jr. Canadiens in the first two rounds of the postseason.
The OJHL champions’ first game at the Centennial Cup will be played May 9 against the champions of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.
For more information on the national championship, go to: https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/national-championships/men/national-junior-a/2024
About the OJHL – “ League of Choice”
The Ontario Junior Hockey League is the largest Junior ‘A’ league operating under the auspices of the Canadian Junior Hockey League with 24 member clubs. A proud member of the CJHL and Ontario Hockey Association, the OJHL was originally named the Ontario Provincial Junior ‘A’ Hockey League and it was formed out of the Central Junior ‘B’ Hockey League in 1993-94. With a long and storied history of developing players for the next level, including U SPORTS, the NCAA, CHL, minor pro ranks and the NHL, the OJHL has had more than 45 NCAA Division I scholarship commitments already this season.